The Silent Wife - A.S.A Harrison

'..it becomes chillingly clear that nothing is remotely as it was.'

Todd Gilbert and Jodi Brett live together in Chicago, and they have been a couple for over twenty years. Jodi is a therapist working part-time from home and Todd is an entrepreneur who has established a successful property business. They enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, but beneath the surface of their relationship, serious cracks are starting to appear, and when Jodi discovers what Todd has been up to most recently, the equilibrium is about to be unsettled forever. I won't go into the plotline further as it is best discovered as you read.

I found The Silent Wife a dark, fascinating and well-observed character study, intelligent, insightful and absorbing, and a book that held my interest and which I wanted to return to. The psychology of it all was very clever and interesting to observe, coupled with the insights from Jodi being a psychologist herself. From early on in the novel, there is a creeping sense of dread, a feeling that things are slowly going to unravel and come apart and ultimately be destructive, and I was compelled to read on, observing the complex lives and behaviour of this pair, the deception and then the desperation. I felt sadness at times thinking about this couple. Though they are not necessarily very likeable creations, in fact they are deeply flawed, neither wholly good nor bad, for me that made them all the more fascinating both individually and when viewed together; it was compelling reading getting inside their heads.

The author had a keen grasp of what makes her characters tick, of motivations, desire, greed, need, stability and routine. She dissects relationships really well, for example that of Todd and his father, or Jodi and her siblings. She also describes the minutiae of life beautifully, such as the everyday routine that keeps Jodi's life running. For me, this is not so much a fast paced, page-turning thriller (though it is certainly thrilling at times), it is more of a measured psychological journey through the breakdown of a relationship, slowly exposing the strengths and weaknesses of two people who know each other inside out and yet in some ways who don't know each other at all. 

I'd seen many reviews of this novel prior to reading it, in fact I wish I'd perhaps not read so many beforehand, as some were very favourable about it and others weren't very keen at all. Nevertheless I tried to go into it with an open mind and for me it was a cleverly crafted and perceptive tale of human desires, insecurities and jealousies from a talented writer. I'm sad to read that she has since passed away. 

Published by Headline

Heading Out To Wonderful - Robert Goolrick

Charlie Beale arrives in Brownsburg, Virginia one day in 1948. We know very little about him, where he came from or his life before now; all we know is that he brings with him two suitcases, one full of his possessions including a set of butchers knives and another full of money. He begins working for Will Haislett the town butcher and befriends him, his wife Alma and their young son Sam. Sam spends a lot of time with Charlie and events that he inadvertently witnesses will change his character and impact permanently on his life; we see these events from his past as he recalls them.

This a beautifully written novel, with such a tangible sense of place and time; the setting is a small town where everyone gets on with their business, attends church, and rarely ventures any further than towns borders; it's a place where you are born, live and die. There is no crime to speak of and everyone has their place within the community. Charlie finds peace in this place, but then one day Charlie sees Sylvan Glass and he is enchanted, his peace is shattered and life is destined to change for all involved. Sylvan dreams of places, people and lives far beyond her lowly origins and means, she copies the voices she hears on the radio, and dreams of the movie stars in the magazines, but at what cost?

Heading Out To Wonderful boasts a compelling narrative voice and delivers a captivating story that drew me further in as the tension built. It encompasses so many ideas and themes; childhood innocence lost, friendship, passionate, destructive and fragile love, hope and longing, matters of race, fantasy and dreams, dangerous jealousy and terrible sadness; 'a world of heartbreak.' 

At the heart of the novel is an all-consuming love affair that made me hold my breath wondering what would develop; I felt so involved in the story and therefore so terrified about the potential dangers ahead as a result of Charlie and Sylvan's actions, fearing how others would react. There are some notable characters, in particular the mysterious Claudie and loathesome Boaty. There are mysteries that remain unsolved, that left me pondering at the end of this beguiling and devastating novel that provoked feelings of both joy and sadness within me.

Published by Hutchinson

Reviewed for We Love This Book

Thanks to We Love This Book and the publisher for providing a proof copy of this novel to read and review.